The updates keep rolling in. I got one on 6/26 and one on 6/27. I am hopeful that the bulletin board post that I have posted herein earlier is correct, and that 12/31/2008 is the correct end of updates for us.
It is terribly annoying that AVG continues to send those pop-ups warning of the end of updates on 6/25.
I am planning to create a video, or several smaller videos, of the Version 8 installation process. I have been installing Version 8 on customer machines as I service them, and I have had no problems to date. I will keep you posted.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Redundant?
Okay, I am being redundant I know when I ask you to be redundant or, in other words, to have a backup plan for your data. So many times I hear from customers that they have a problem with their PC and, when I ask them if they have their data backed up, the answer comes back as "no" probably 90% of the time!
PLEASE, do yourself a big favor and create a plan for backup. The data you should be backing up includes most everything contained in your MY DOCUMENTS (XP) folder or your DOCUMENTS (VISTA) folder. Included therein should be all of your digital photos, music, and movies or videos. If you have an office product (MS Office or Open Office, etc.) all of the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, publications, etc. that you have created and saved will also be there.
It is not terribly difficult to learn how to back up this data to a CD or a DVD or to an external hard drive or even, on a somewhat temporary basis, to a flash or thumb drive.
So make a commitment to do this on a regular basis, but at least quarterly, PLEASE!
If your e-mail is important to you, you can easily back that up as well. The method used will depend on how you process your e-mail (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.). If you have questions about this, please write.
PLEASE, do yourself a big favor and create a plan for backup. The data you should be backing up includes most everything contained in your MY DOCUMENTS (XP) folder or your DOCUMENTS (VISTA) folder. Included therein should be all of your digital photos, music, and movies or videos. If you have an office product (MS Office or Open Office, etc.) all of the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, publications, etc. that you have created and saved will also be there.
It is not terribly difficult to learn how to back up this data to a CD or a DVD or to an external hard drive or even, on a somewhat temporary basis, to a flash or thumb drive.
So make a commitment to do this on a regular basis, but at least quarterly, PLEASE!
If your e-mail is important to you, you can easily back that up as well. The method used will depend on how you process your e-mail (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.). If you have questions about this, please write.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Migrating from Firefox Version 2 to Version 3
Okay, I'm trying something new, and my first foray into the world of video is only mildly successful. It would be better if I could better capture the screen so that you could actually read it. However, as I look at it, I find that maybe my narration will somewhat make up for it - at least in this simple case.
If you are a Firefox user, or even if you are not, you may find this helpful. For you current users, you will find this a very easy upgrade. It is fast and straightforward. Even if you don't want to upgrade at this point in time, you may find the video useful. The bottom line is that this is an easy upgrade and one you can implement without worry. The new version looks very much like the old.
If you have never used Firefox as your browser, you may want to install it even if you later decide not to make it your default browser. You can also follow the video's instructions. Firefox will copy all of your Internet Explorer (IE) Favorites so the end product will look much like IE.
I welcome your feedback, so please write with comments.
If you are a Firefox user, or even if you are not, you may find this helpful. For you current users, you will find this a very easy upgrade. It is fast and straightforward. Even if you don't want to upgrade at this point in time, you may find the video useful. The bottom line is that this is an easy upgrade and one you can implement without worry. The new version looks very much like the old.
If you have never used Firefox as your browser, you may want to install it even if you later decide not to make it your default browser. You can also follow the video's instructions. Firefox will copy all of your Internet Explorer (IE) Favorites so the end product will look much like IE.
I welcome your feedback, so please write with comments.
Monday, June 23, 2008
1 Terabyte Hard Drive
A terabyte (TB) is 1000 Gigabytes (GB). A GB is 1000 megabytes (MB). A MB is 1000 kilobytes (KB). A KB is 1000 bytes or characters in computerese. (In actuality, a KB is 1024 bytes, but normally rounded off to 1000 for ease of computation.) I used to teach this stuff at SeniorNet, and never felt that the magnitude of these numbers ever sank in.
A TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes or characters! Now that's a lot of zeroes, and I have gone over that string several times to make sure I have it right! :-)
I have been waiting for what seems like a long time to buy a hard drive with a 1TB capacity. They have been around for a while but rather costly, and I had decided that when they were priced lower than $200 I would buy one. Well, thanks to Costco and one of their coupons, I purchased one last week for $199!
It is a Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive. It comes in its own enclosure and attaches to a PC via a USB cable (it can also attach using FIREWIRE or eSATA).
I have plans for what I am going to do now that my desktop, with its internal 80GB hard drive and its external 250GB hard drive, have this new capacity available to me. Both my internal and external drives have been pushing the limits of their capacity. I have used the 250GB drive for backups mostly, maintaining several backups of my data at any one time.
I am planning to replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive. To do this I will need to make an exact copy of my current C drive on the external 250GB drive. For this I will use Norton Ghost. After making the copy, I'll physically replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive and hope I can then reboot my machine from the new internal 250GB drive. I will hold onto the 80GB drive, probably inserting it into the enclosure now housing the 250GB drive. The 80GB drive will be a good place to carry another backup copy of MY DOCUMENTS (all of my data).
I have already moved my My Documents folder to the external 1TB drive. To see how to move the location of your My Documents folder, see this handy Microsoft link:
Below is what my 1TB drive looked like after I formatted it, getting rid of all the annoying "management" software included by Western Digital:
You can click on that image above to see the full sized version.
More on this subject as I progress with the above plan. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail.
A TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes or characters! Now that's a lot of zeroes, and I have gone over that string several times to make sure I have it right! :-)
I have been waiting for what seems like a long time to buy a hard drive with a 1TB capacity. They have been around for a while but rather costly, and I had decided that when they were priced lower than $200 I would buy one. Well, thanks to Costco and one of their coupons, I purchased one last week for $199!
It is a Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive. It comes in its own enclosure and attaches to a PC via a USB cable (it can also attach using FIREWIRE or eSATA).
I have plans for what I am going to do now that my desktop, with its internal 80GB hard drive and its external 250GB hard drive, have this new capacity available to me. Both my internal and external drives have been pushing the limits of their capacity. I have used the 250GB drive for backups mostly, maintaining several backups of my data at any one time.
I am planning to replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive. To do this I will need to make an exact copy of my current C drive on the external 250GB drive. For this I will use Norton Ghost. After making the copy, I'll physically replace the 80GB drive with the 250GB drive and hope I can then reboot my machine from the new internal 250GB drive. I will hold onto the 80GB drive, probably inserting it into the enclosure now housing the 250GB drive. The 80GB drive will be a good place to carry another backup copy of MY DOCUMENTS (all of my data).
I have already moved my My Documents folder to the external 1TB drive. To see how to move the location of your My Documents folder, see this handy Microsoft link:
How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder
Below is what my 1TB drive looked like after I formatted it, getting rid of all the annoying "management" software included by Western Digital:
You can click on that image above to see the full sized version.
More on this subject as I progress with the above plan. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail.
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